The Los Angeles Lakers have won nine of their last 12 games and started Tuesday night's game against the Pistons like they were going to make easy work of them. After the first quarter, they led 24-17 and were up 12, 37-25, with seven and a half minutes remaining in the half.
But that's when the Pistons turned it on for the home crowd. Detroit went on a 20-4 run to end the half, paced by Rodney Stuckey scoring eight points, taking a four-point lead on the Western Conference's third place team. Stuckey scored 10 in all in the second quarter and 12 in the first half. Ben Gordon added 11 points off the bench.
The Lakers shot just 41-percent in the first half. Kobe Bryant, sporting a new black mask for his broken nose, was only 2-for-10 shooting. The Lakers were led by Andrew Bynum's 13 points and six rebounds.